exactly over the point on which her crew were
to continue their work of excavation. The
sea was calm; and, though a certain buoyancy
was perceptible in the vessel, there was
nothing approaching to heaving or tossing.
You will first want to know what the
Auguste was like. I answer that she had a
resemblance to nothing so much as to some
strange sea-monster come up from the abyss
of the ocean to take a breath of air and a
glimpse of sunshine, and then go down again
— a simile which will not give you a very
clear idea of the object of your curiosity.
Therefore, to be more precise and homely in
my comparisons, the Auguste in colour is
bright red, like a boiled lobster. As to shape
— take two boiled lobsters, remove their heads,
clap the two decapitated portions together,
contrive to float them in the sea, back
upwards, in such a way that only the thicker
part of the body is above water; of course,
greatly magnify them in idea—  and you have
the best notion I can give you of the Auguste
lying at anchor. She is built entirely of
iron, and the joinings of the pieces and the
bands encircling the structure increase her
lobster-like appearance. The windows— small
circular plates of inch thick glass, here and
there let in as firmly as iron can fix them—
are not noticed at a distance; but, when you
are walking on the surface of the Plunger,
they remind you of the green glimmering eyes
which a magnifier will show you upon a
spider's back. In short, M. Payerne has
invented a new species of marine crustacean,
which is naked and worm-like externally,
having neither claws nor fins; but, which is
provided internally with an air-bladder like
that of many fishes; with lungs which are
reservoirs of air as those of the camel are
reservoirs of water; and with spiracles and
siphuncles capable of producing various effects,
in imitation of the functions they would
perform in the entrails of the nautilus and
the ammonite. Fins and claws, or legs and
feet, a screw tail for locomotive purposes, or
perhaps, wings even— for who can tell ?—may
one day sprout through the shell of the
Auguste. In which case she must be
considered at present as a mere larva or grub, or
at most only in the chrysalis state, from
which the perfect full-fledged insect is to
burst forth some bright sunshiny morning.

I ought to mention that the Auguste,
though called a Diving Bateau, or Boat, has
not in herself the means of progressive motion
through the waters, as by sail or oar, which
the word " boat " suggests to the mind. She
can sink; and she can rise to the surface
without assistance. But, in order to arrive
at the spot where a descent is proposed to be
made, she has to be towed through the waves
by a steamer or a sailing vessel. Therefore,
those nervous persons who are groaning
over the invention, fearing that a force
of a dozen men may secretly invade our
coast, or, entering our docks in the disguise
of flounders, may blow up, or sink, our navy
from below, are quite premature in their
apprehensions. The apparatus has to be
considerably amended and enlarged before the
French can play us such tricks as those, even
supposing that they wished to play them.

The only things which interrupt the
surface, or grow out of the hard smooth
shell of the Auguste's back, are: Firstly, a
ring, on what may be called the croup of the
creature, behind, and another on the back of
its neck, before; these are for the purpose
of towing it; they are button-holes in which
to fix its leading-strings when it is sent out
from its home pond, like a trained
hippopotamus, to perform its task under water.
Secondly: quite in the middle of the back,
there is a small rectangular hole or trap-
door, which might be called in French either
a porte or a trou d'homme— this is the place
of exit and entrance for the crew. Over it
springs an arch of bar iron, about five feet
high and two or three inches thick, which is
technically styled a potence or gallows; only
in the place where a strangled man should be
suspended, there hang a pulley and ropes,
that can be attached to the trap-door, for a
purpose which you will understand by
and bye.

The entire length of the Auguste is thirteen
mètres, a mètre being somewhat more than an
English yard. Call it a vessel forty feet long.
The internal chamber, or hold, or submarine
work-place, is nearly five mètres, or fifteen
feet long. Nine men go down in it
comfortably; a dozen find themselves a little
crowded. The two extremities, that is to
say, the whole remaining space, are employed
for the double purpose of reservoirs of
condensed air, and hydrostatic regulators of
equilibrium. These last words may, perhaps,
sound a little hard, but they shall soon be
made considerably plainer. The extremity—
which we may call the tail— of the crustacean
is hemi-spherical, or rounded off in a circular
form; the front or snout end is conical, or
very bluntly pointed, with, however, a
tendency to bulge outwards. The apparatus at
each extremity is similar; and outside, close
to certain pumps at each end of the chamber,
are the Auguste's breathing holes or spiracles
— tubes fitted with valves for the discharge
of water mainly, but, sometimes, of air.

Suppose, then, the Auguste lying at anchor
in diving trim, waiting for nothing but the bold
crew who shall man her. The inventor pushes
off in a boat, in company with his inquisitive
visitor; we soon touch the Plunger vessel,
and I jump on board, and am taken into
the interior through the little square trap-
door. The air reservoirs are indeed charged;
for the Doctor, in proof thereof, touches a
screw, and out whistles a blast worthy of the
imprisoned winds of Æolus. The floor of
iron is also an entire trap-door, into which
other smaller ones are let, to be opened,
as most convenient, at the bottom of the sea